


Commander Shepard

by Lavender_chan



Series: Commander Shepard [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Epic, Eventual Romance, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-23
Updated: 2015-01-23
Packaged: 2018-03-08 17:53:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3218165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lavender_chan/pseuds/Lavender_chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A shadow is on the horizon and with the Geth starting to attack human colonies, your life is about to become upset. Being made a Spectre of the Citadel council hasn't made anything easier. The shadow is coming closer, with Saren and his flagship Sovreign a herold of the coming war.</p><p>Writing through the three Mass Effect games from a Fem!Shep (reader) perspective. Expect a few darker themes. No pairing as of yet, however expect either ShepxGarrus or ShepxThane.</p><p>Will add warnings as the story goes. The political, religious and personal view of character in this story do not reflect my views on any of the subjects.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Commander Shepard

Your heart pounded. The air was heavy with the sticky smell of blood and it mixed with the sickly sweet smell of the acid that you heard eating away at the crate you used as cover. You barely raised your head over it to check the situation and ducked just in time to dodge a ball of yellow-green acid.

The roar of the closest Thresher Maw caused the ground to vibrate beneath your feet. You tried to control your breathing, but it came it quick bursts. You swallowed. The ammo in your assault rifle wasn’t going to even get past the Maw’s tough hide.

The communication ear bud crackled to life; the sound made you jump and your heart pounded as you tried to concentrate on the sound coming through the comm.

“Johnson, Daniels, Shepard,” You immediately recognized your superior officer’s voice, “Christ, is anyone else alive out there?”

You immediately patched in, “Commander Hart, this is Shepard.” You didn’t even try to hide your shaky voice.

“Where are you, Shepard?” Hart’s voice was hard, but it crackled horribly.

“I’m on the east side of the landing zone,” you peaked your head over your over again and cursed when you noticed the acid had all but eaten through it, “I’m cornered by one of the Maws, I don’t think I can get past it.”

You felt the anxiety well in your chest as you admitted this. The idea that you were going to die here—worse, that you were probably going to die painfully and slowly inside a Thresher Maw’s stomach—the bile choked you.

“Get your shit together, Shepard,” Hart’s voice rang in your ear until it hurt, “You and I are the last ones alive and we.are.getting.out.of.here.”

Each word was punctured with control, “Do you hear me, Shepard?”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Say it again, Shepard! I don’t believe you!”

“Yes, Sir!”

The anxiety settled at the pit of your stomach, but you lived with it. That was the easy part.

“What’s the plan, Commander?” You asked as you dove behind another crate for cover; you ignored the sound of something wet splatting where you had just been.

“That’s more like it, Shepard,” Hart’s voice dropped back to normal levels, “The plan is that we meet up on the south side of the LZ.”

“Right,” you glanced in that direction before quickly gauging how long it would take to make it, “It’ll take me a bit to get over that way; I have a Maw to deal with.”

“Make me proud, Shepard; Hart out.”

You swallowed the last of your reservations. If you were going to die, then so be it—but that Maw won’t be able to slither away without remembering to think twice about attacking a human.

You checked your pockets and found a single grenade left. An idea lingered in your mind for a moment, but you put it on the back burner as you heard the Thresher break the ground and come up to search for you. From the sudden air movement and the horrendous smell of death and rot, you gathered the thing was less than a three or four meters away from you.

You looked up and swore as the Thresher Maw hung over your head, its mouth dripping with its acidic saliva. Time stopped for you, then.

The smell of the rotting air coming out of it, the site of its bright green acid dripping from its mouth, stained brown in certain areas from blood. You’re eyes focused on its wide gaping mouth and your hand moved on instinct.

You activated the grenade and threw it into the creature’s mouth.

The Maw gave a cry as it swallowed the explosive. You sprinted. The grenade had less than 3 seconds left, and you had to get behind some decent cover. The creature’s insides just missed you as you ducked behind a large bolder.

You sunk to your knees. The sound of the other 10 Thresher Maws was distant background noise as you caught your breath. Breathing was easier now that the fear that had been bubbling in your stomach was gone. You’re not sure what changed, but everything changed in that moment you threw the grenade. It was like you had resigned to death, but you were still here. Still alive.

You stood, and glanced around the area. The area was destroyed by the Thresher Maws and their tunnels, but you could still head south and meet up with your Commander.

The trip was slow as you ducked from cover to cover. There were two moments where a Thresher broke the surface, perhaps feeling the vibrations of you running along. Sitting still offered you shelter and both times the Thresher disappeared beneath the ground again.

The area south of the landing zone was dense with trees. You silently prayed that this would be enough to keep the Thresher’s away.

“Shepard!”

You jumped as the voice came from off to your right.

Hart was laid up against a large root that jutted up from the ground at an odd angle. The dirt around him had been disturbed; you could tell he had dragged himself from somewhere through the trees. You felt your insides try to jump up through your mouth when you noticed something horrifying.

Commander Hart was missing his right leg, all the way up to his hip. Blood still oozed out of his wound; you could see acid scars on the rest of his armor—the worst of it was on his chest, where the acid ate down to his ribs fusing armor, skin and bone in a mess of gore.

“C-commander,” you choked out, and froze in place.

Hart’s voice was clear, but he glanced around carefully before he spoke again, “Good to see you in one piece. I wasn’t as lucky.”

You dropped to your knees and immediately moved to his side to check his injuries.

“Commander, what happened,” the words poured out of your mouth, “We have to stop the bleeding, what the fuck happened.”

None of your words were formed in a question, and even if they were it was obvious what happened. Hart wasn’t moving, and the Omni-tool on his left arm fizzled and sparked while you tried to do something, anything.

“Shepard, listen to me,” Hart coughed from the force of voice, “I was able to radio evac, they’ll be at the LZ any moment; you have to get out.”

“I can’t leave you,” You stammered, “I can’t leave you while you’re still alive, what if those Threshers find you?”

Hart reached out, faster than you thought he could and grabbed the edge of your armored suit. He yanked you close and hissed, “Get your ass out.”

“B-but,” you stammered.

“You have to survive,” Hart fell back against the root, weaker than before, “I’ve watched my whole team die here; you have to live Shepard!”

You swallowed and tried to argue weakly, “But the Threshers…”

“They won’t get me,” Hart’s eyes flashed. His hand twitched and your eyes moved to see him clutch his pistol.

“Wh-what,” your mouth went dry. You nodded slowly then.

“I understand, Commander Hart.”

“Good,” Hart closed his eyes, “You were always so indecisive, Shepard; you had the most potential out of the whole squad and this proves it.”

His chuckle was dark and made tears pool in your eyes. You tried to open your mouth to say something, but the sound of an approaching ship stopped you.

“Get out of here,” Hart’s eyes slowly closed, “I’m just going to rest here for a moment, Shepard.”

“Y-yes, sir,” You took a deep breath and stood.

Hart didn’t move, but you couldn’t bring yourself to leave yet. The ship was coming closer, but the man who had been better than a father to you faded before your eyes.

You raised your hand in salute; it was all you could offer him.

You turned your back and ducked between the trees. Directly north you could see the ship lowering to the ground. As soon as it touched the dirt, the Thresher Maws would swarm toward it. You didn’t have time to hesitate.

A gunshot rang out behind you—the sound chilled your insides, despite the sun beating down on you.

_“Alright, troops.”_

Hart’s voice echoed loud in your ears as you ducked and dodged through the trees.

_”No one gets left behind, Shepard; remember that this squad is your family and family comes first.”_

“Broadcasting on all channels,” You heard a blast of static, “Calling for any survivors.”

“Here, I’m here,” you were breathless, yelling into the comm. You jumped over a root and lost your footing but pushed forward, “I’m on my way, ETA 45 seconds.”

You took a huge breath before you continued, “Be advised, immediate danger—this whole area is a huge Thresher Maw nest; confirmed sighting of 11 different Threshers in the immediate area.”

_“This team is the best team I’ve ever had under my command; and don’t think I’m just saying that. We can win this day, if we work together and watch each other’s backs.”_

You choked up and couldn’t breathe, but ahead of you the trees opened up to reveal the landing zone, with the ship just touching ground.

Hell broke loose as three Thresher Maws broke the ground and nearly knocked you off your feet. The ship’s onboard guns started firing, while the doors opened, revealing four armor clad Alliance Military marines. Their guns were already at the ready, and before you could steady yourself, one of the Threshers was on the ground with a choked death cry.

There was still a Thresher Maw between you and the ship and you tightened your resolve.

_“You were always so indecisive, Shepard; you had the most potential out of the whole squad and this proves it.”_

“I’ll make you proud, Hart,” you whispered beneath your breath. Your pistol was heavy in your palm, but you darted forward anyway.

The Thresher turned to see you running; it wasted no time in throwing its first ball of acid slime. You ducked to one side, feeling the thick humid air as the acid flew right by you. Its body was now towering over you, its mouth gaped and the size of it made your stomach drop. You didn’t stop. You hurried under its mouth and from the corner of your eye you saw it move.

You dropped to the ground and slid. The wind above you blew past and the heavy heat of the Maw barely missed you. You rolled to the side and stood; you ran, you couldn’t stop now.

“Shit, did you see that?” The radio buzzed to life in your ear.

“Is that the only survivor?”

“The shields are going to drop,” you heard the pilot over the radio, “We have to get off this planet, sir!”

“Hold position,” You saw the leader of the group pause in his assault to hold a hand to his radio in his helmet, “The survivor is within sight. Prep engines, but you leave ground and you’re court marshaled!”

You jumped over a crate and around a boulder before screaming, “We have to leave!”

“Everyone fall back.”

Another Thresher broke ground behind the ship and you pushed yourself to move faster. The ship started to hover and you jumped.

The inside of the ship rattled as the surrounding Thresher Maws spat their acid through the air.

“Go, go, go!”

The door closed as the ship lifted from the air.

You couldn’t catch your breath. You turned to look out the window of the shuttle and watched the surface of the planet pull away as the shuttle continued to climb through the atmosphere.

“What’s your name, soldier?” The leader put his hand on your shoulder.

You answered, but couldn’t tear your eyes away from the planet that looked so tame from orbit.

You were the lone survivor of Akuze.


End file.
